Q:
Rashi explains that the purpose of the neshamah yeseirah that a Jew gets on Shabbos is so that he should be able to eat more on Shabbos (Beitzah 16a). Isn’t that a very strange reason to get an additional soul?
A:
Rashi says that the neshamah yeseirah has the purpose of helping us eat more on Shabbos. But actually Rashi is saying something else. What he’s saying is that because of the neshamah yeseirah we eat more on Shabbos. Not that it’s the purpose – it’s a result of the neshama yeseirah.
The neshamah yeseirah, the additional type of soul we have on Shabbos, helps us understand more on Shabbos and feel more, and therefore we’re more capable on Shabbos of achieving the purpose of Shabbos. If we utilize it, if we activate it, we’re more capable of learning the great lessons of Shabbos. But because there’s an added energy, so when a man is in a good mood, you know he eats more. When a man is dejected, he eats less. And therefore when the neshamah yeseirah enters and causes a man to be more enthusiastic then he has more desire to consume physical foods, to enjoy the physical pleasure of eating. But not that the neshamah yeseirah is made especially for the purpose of eating more.
TAPE # 106 (February 1976)
